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Dream Cruising in Hagerty's 1969 Camaro SS

2 of 9We guarantee there's going to be more than one 1969 Camaro SS on Woodward this weekend, but this one probably has the most interesting story behind it.

Photo by Graham Kozak

3 of 9Woodward Ave. might not be the best place to push the Camaro SS to its limits, but you'd be hard pressed to find a more natural habitat for the car.

Photo by Graham Kozak

4 of 9For being the part of the car that sustained the brunt of the impact, the grille of the Hagerty '69 Camaro is looking great.

Photo by Graham Kozak

5 of 9The 396 V8 remained stock.

Photo by Graham Kozak

6 of 9The speedometer didn't work right and the tach didn't work at all. But who care? It runs and drives.

Photo by Graham Kozak

7 of 9The interior didn't need much work -- part of an earlier restoration, is survived the crash just fine.

Photo by Graham Kozak

8 of 9Body by Fisher.

Photo by Graham Kozak

9 of 9Within minutes of parking the car, it attracted the attention of passers buy -- a few of whom were Hagerty clients.

Photo by Graham Kozak

The Hagerty 1969 Camaro SS probably won't be the only car of its kind to hit Woodward Avenue for the 2013 Dream Cruise, and it certainly won't be the only piece of all-American metal with a special story behind it.

But this car's story doesn't fit any of the usual templates. It's not a one-family car handed down from gearhead father to gearhead son, nor is it the fulfillment of a Baby Boomer's lifetime dream of muscle-car ownership.

It was, not long ago, a complete wreck. Totaled after a gnarly front-end collision, the car could have easily been headed for the scrap heap, its salvageable parts destined for other restoration projects.

We caught up with Tabetha Salsbury-Hammer, Hagerty's manager of youth programs, earlier this week to take a closer look at the car.

The kind of enthusiast who unconsciously refers to the Camaro as “she,” Salsbury-Hammer rode along with us to answer our questions -- and make sure we didn't do anything stupid. She's a McPherson grad with three vintage tractor restorations under her belt, and she probably could have done most of the work on the wreck herself.

But that would have defeated the purpose of the project. After all, Hagerty didn't want to wind up with just another piece of over-restored American muscle.

“The [Comeback Camaro] was more of a learning experience for the employees,” she said, some of whom had never owned or worked on a classic before.

And there was a lot of learning -- maybe even more than initially expected, despite the massive front-end damage. It turned out that, in addition to the crash that totaled it, the car had been in a few other fender-benders over the course of its life. We're sure that uncovering damage in the car's rear was a nasty surprise, but what's an amateur restoration without a few unexpected setbacks?

Not all discoveries were as disheartening -- the restoration process uncovered a number of the little quirks that amateur restorers love to share with other enthusiasts.

Take the jagged hole crudely cut into the metal of the transmission hump to accommodate the Muncie four-speed manual. At first, Salsbury-Hammer explained, they suspected that they might be dealing with an automatic-equipped car later converted to a manual transmission, but digging a little deeper, they uncovered the real story: When a car destined to receive a Muncie came down the assembly line, “workers would just hand-cut the hole” to accommodate the mechanicals.

Understanding that this was part of the car's history, the Hagerty crew opted to leave the metal authentically unfinished.

In the end, Hagerty employees tackled everything but the interior (largely undamaged in the accident), the final coat of exterior paint and the tricky-to-install vinyl roof. There were 123 employees who contributed to the effort, in many cases learning the basics of restoration as they went.

Photo by Graham Kozak

It's a publicity-friendly story, but we know what you're thinking: How does a once-totaled, collaboratively restored Camaro drive?

Pretty damn well. We're glad we got a chance to take the car for a spin a few days ahead of the official Cruise date of Aug. 17. At around noon on a gorgeous Wednesday we pulled out of Vinsetta Garage's parking lot and onto Woodward with nary a hitch thanks to the long, forgiving clutch release.

Steering was surprisingly light (but don't expect to make any tight turns) and four-wheel discs made braking linear and predictable. Even so, we were hesitant to push the 396 cubic inch V8 too hard. Thanks to an obnoxiously heavy police presence, Woodward Avenue isn't the place to get away with spirited antics in the weeks leading up to the Cruise. Besides, it wasn't our car; we didn't want to break anything.

Hagerty is less concerned about breaking things on the car than we were: Since its completion in June, the Camaro has seen around 4,000 miles. That includes a run in the Hemmings Motor News Great Race (that adventure saw an overnight clutch replacement and transmission rebuild in Tennessee) and a recent stint in Toronto teaching teenagers how to drive a stick as part of the Hagerty Driving Experience.

All this with a dodgy speedometer cable (it causes the speedo to consistently read about 10 mph below actual speed) and a bum tachometer. Fixes for those glitches are in the works, but we're glad to see that -- in true enthusiast spirit -- a few kinks aren't enough to keep the Hagerty folks off the road.

Photo by Graham Kozak

To be sure, restoring the Camaro was a savvy marketing move: Within minutes of parking the car in front of Vinsetta Garage, a man familiar with the Comeback Camaro project walked up to get a closer look. Hagerty, he admitted, insured his classic. By writing this article, we're only adding to the buzz surrounding the project.

But there's something reassuring about an insurance company that understands what goes into bringing a classic back from death's door. The author of this piece, for example, saw his beloved Packard badly damaged in a garage fire. Fortunately, the (non-Hagerty) claims adjuster restored old pickups in his spare time; understanding the real value of a vintage car, he helped assure full coverage. Would someone less in-tune with the joys and pains of old car ownership have been as understanding?

Beyond all that, though, Salsbury-Hammer says, “it's a lot of fun to take a car around and truly be part of the events” that make the old car world a blast to be a part of -- events just like the Woodward Dream Cruise.

Selling classic and collector car insurance means that the Hagerty crew has to deal with gearheads like us on a daily basis. The Comeback Camaro is, in our humble opinion, a downright badass way for employees to get off the sidelines and jump into the mix with the rest of us.

We hope it has many thousands of miles and many more adventures ahead of it.

Cruising Woodward this weekend? Stop by the Hagerty booths near Mustang Alley (Woodward and 9 Mile) and the Shrine of the Little Flower (Woodward and 12 Mile). The '69 Camaro SS should be at one of those locations.

The Woodward Dream Cruise is a celebration of Detroit's golden age and all things automotive, but the event as we know it today was born in 1995. As we prepare for the Woodward Dream Cruise, we'll be looking back at coverage from past years and keeping you up to date on the latest news. Whether you're looking for Dream Cruise photos, a bit of Woodward Dream Cruise history or recommended hotels and restaurants near Woodward, you'll find it all in Autoweek's Woodward Dream Cruise section.

Graham Kozak
- Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they're doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too.
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